I was asked by one of our members over at InfoMarketer'sZone whether she needed a blog, a list, a product OR a membership site…here was my answer:
Let me briefly explain.
Content:
You need content to both attract attention (in the case where you are using your content to generate traffic) and to develop interest as well as "warm" your prospect to take the first action. These could be videos, articles, podcasts, audio interviews, images, etc…and almost always have a blog as their foundation even if you generate content and extend it out to other platforms such as YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc…Even if you are not using content generation as a main method of traffic generation (lets say it is affiliates or ads instead), you still need content so that when visitors land on your page you develop their interest and turn that into action.
Squeeze:
Think of a squeeze page as simply an offer page that is designed to get your "cold" prospect/visitor to take the first level of commitment to you by either subscribing to your blog, podcast or video channel or ideally also providing their email address so you can send them additional content as well as a well-designed sales funnel sequence designed to sell them your products and services. We show more than one here simply because you want to segment your prospects such that over time you have specific content tailored toward specific squeeze page sales funnels leading to specific product offers – you will find maximum conversions with this approach
Products:
Here you want to eventually have a range of products from a basic intro product say in the $17-$97 range with additional products that may range into the thousands – the idea is to cover different angles of your market and allow for unique, high-value bundles and upsell offers that will add significant margin to your bottom line.
Recurring:
I work with people all of the time who have in their head that they want a recurring income model – such as a membership site – but they are often putting the cart before the horse. In our businesses we have always found demand for membership content – recurring content – always presents itself once you begin to generate leads and customers. In other words, you will find opportunities to provide additional, ongoing information and services as a natural extension to your front-end, product-driven business. In our experience working with people using this model it almost always works. Without that front-end though it is tough to make a recurring model work simply because it's tough to get someone to commit mentally to a recurring bill without seeing initial value up-front and getting to know you and your business
Do you have a question around your current or planned product offerings or sales funnel? Leave a comment or better still, visit InfoMarketer'sZone where you will find an intensive focus on helping you setup your own online business, create compelling – high profit products and dominate with marketing in your niche.
